Molly's Clock
by Aeilde Light
Summary: Arthur comes up with an elegant solution when Molly gets frustrated watching the children. this is just a one shot.


_In this piece the children's ages are: Ginny-1, Ron-3, twins-5, Percy-7, Charlie-11, Bill-13. I got the age spacing online somewheres i can't remember. (please note age spacing doesn't correspond exactly with schooling spacing...)_

Molly sagged in her chair. Little Ginerva was crying again, the twins had just almost exploded their room after getting a hold of her wand, again. Bill and Charlie had just come home from Hogwarts for the year (Charlie's first and Bill's third year), Percy was bombarding her with questions about the school, asking why he couldn't go yet, and Ron…she sat up in her chair quickly. Where was Ronald? The toddler was bound to get himself in trouble… she rushed around the house, up and down all the stairs, then ran to the kitchen upon hearing a crash of pots and pans. She found Ron crying, holding his hand from where a pot had hit him. The kitchen was a mess with drawers pulled out to make a perfect little staircase up to the counter, where the cookies she had baked yesterday were kept in a jar, right next to where the pots and pans were supposed to be. She sighed and picked him up, scolding him for trying to get into the cookies while checking his hand for any real damage.

"Whoa, Mom, what happened?" She looked up to see Bill coming in through the door, Charlie close behind.

"…where have you two been? I thought you were in your rooms doing summer homework!" her voice rose with each word, the last coming out a shriek. The boys shrunk away from her, abashed. She was at her wits end! How was she supposed to keep track of all seven children by herself? She jumped as she heard yet another small explosion above her head, and gaped as she heard Ginny start crying again… it was going to take forever to get her to sleep for her nap again…Bill and Charlie slunk away up the stairs taking advantage of Molly's overwhelmed status.

Arthur came home to find a rather unhappy wife. She had managed to get her wand back from the twins, but Ginny had been up, and very cranky, the rest of the day. She had scared Bill and Charlie into their rooms, and had arrived just in time to prevent more tears from Ron as Percy took it upon himself to chide the toddler again for the cookies fiasco.

"Arthur…I just don't know what to do anymore! You know I love them all… but sometimes I feel like we have too many children…I can't keep track of them…what if one of them gets hurt…or lost…I might not even realize they're missing until it's too late!" she sobbed into his shoulder and he held her tightly, trying to figure out some way to make her feel better.

"Well figure something out Molly. Maybe my Mother could he—"

"No, don't you even say it. I don't want her here, it'll just make things worse!" she cried out.

"Molly…I don't know how, but I'll figure something out. I promise." He kissed her gently.

Months past and Molly felt just as frazzled as ever, but her family seemed to be making efforts to behave themselves for her birthday. Bill and Charlie had tried their hand at making her a cake, but it ended up rather lumpy, and tasted like asparagus. She thanked them and had a few bites before saying she was full. The Twins had painted her a picture of their family. They had run out of orange paint and decided to use purple instead, so half their family had purple hair, but it still made her smile. She got sloppy kisses from Ron and Ginny with a big hug a small "I love you mommy" from both. Percy had made her a pin to wear that shrilly whistled something she guessed was supposed to be the Birthday song. That, or a song about her, she wasn't sure. She sighed and smiled at their efforts, knowing they loved her and she loved them.

Arthur carried a large box into the room and placed it in front of Molly. She looked at him surprised. They rarely gave each other gifts, money was always fairly tight.

"Arthur…what is it?" she asked excitedly.

"Why don't you open it and find out." He smiled at her and watched as she gingerly opened the box, obviously curious. She looked in the box and got a puzzled look on her face, and pulled out an odd clock.

"Arthur…what is it?" she asked, confused.

"A way to keep track of the family." He leaned forward and pointed to the nine silver hands on the clock, each engraved with a family member's name. Her eyes widened as she looked at them all neatly pointing towards Home, and she read the other places along the edge: Lost, School, Work, Traveling, Hospital…Her face broke into a smile.

"Arthur, it's lovely…I love it! How…where did you get it?" she looked up at him, happy tears in her eyes.

"I made it for you Molly. I promised I'd figure out something! I tried to add 'getting in trouble'," he glancing meaningfully at the twins, "but the clock had difficulties understanding what meant getting into trouble, and what didn't…"

"It's perfect, Arthur, wonderful, I love it… I love you!" she stood and kissed him, ignoring her boys' grossed out reactions.

"I love you too, Molly-wobbles." He put his forehead against hers lovingly.

Molly never had trouble keeping track of her children again.


End file.
